Last night in Oregon

Madeline had a nice morning nap today.

Then we went to lunch at Burgerville, and she got a balloon!

She grew attached to her balloon.

Summer, Matthew, Madeline, and I wandered for a bit, meeting friends Jill and Kyle at another McMenamins establishment; sadly, no pictures turned out.  Back at home, though, a balloon somehow materialized!

Madeline had to take a break from her balloon for dinner, though.

After dinner, she took one of her last opportunities of the trip to terrorize poor Hobbes.

She pretended to crash on grandpa ...

... but was soon back on a rampage again.

Finally, making a fish-face, she said farewell to the fridge full of magnets that's kept her entertained every day this trip ...

... and then went to bed, her last night in Oregon (this time around).

The open house

Madeline was as energetic as always this morning.

She helped get ready for this evening's open house.

She also took some play breaks.

Soon it was just about time ...

The open house went smoothly, as Madeline happily met lots of new people.  As it wound down, she got tired and changed into pajamas.  But we needed to squeeze in some photo shoots before Marc headed out to Minnesota.  The Allen family:

And us plus Marc.

There and back again

Most of today was spent again playing with uncles, aunts, grandparents, kitties, and Cheerios.

Then this evening we went to Centralia, Washington -- a new state for her! -- to meet up with friend Andy at the Olympic Club.  We tried to keep Madeline on the side where minors were allowed.

Now we are all home and sleepy.

Portland

Today Summer, Madeline, and I went into Portland.  We had lunch at a Deschutes brewpub ...

... and then took our annual (Madeline's first!) pilgrimage to Powell's City of Books.

So many books!

After settling a happy Madeline back into the car, we drove around the city while she napped.

And the rest of the day was the usual fare: playing, cat-torturing, etc.

Madeline likes things

Madeline likes things: her purple ball ...

... Elmo ...

... and kitties.

Also today Madeline met one of Summer's oldest friends, Niki (who has her own little one due in February!) and her husband Tommy.  Alas! the meeting was not documented.

First Christmas

Today was Madeline's first Christmas!

She spent her morning playing with Elmo and Rudolph.

And, after that, with uncle Marc.

All that playing made her sleepy.

But soon enough it was time for more playing.

Here's our little nuclear family:

Eventually, we opened stockings.  The exercise seemed to confuse Madeline.

We eased the confusion with more playing.

And, after a refreshing walk to the drug store, we brought out my old Santa hat (which Madeline also found confusing).

We had a lovely Christmas dinner.

And then Madeline opened a few more presents ...

... before succumbing to sleepiness and going to bed.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

The night before Christmas

Lots of pictures, few words tonight.

This morning Madeline played with uncle Matthew's tigers.  Grrrrrrowl.

She was not infrequently delighted by some thing or another.

Not least of which was this printout of a poem.

She basked in grandparental love.

We took a little hike at Cooper Mountain.

Summer said she particularly liked this picture.

And I like this one.

A nice hiker took our picture together.

We gathered again on the playground's pretend covered wagon.

Madeline walked off the wagon and back to the car.

Then, back at home, she directed the tree-decorating.

She also contemplated the meaning of her very own Elmo ornament.

After she was asleep, the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Which means tomorrow must be Christmas!

Random notes: Today Madeline began consistently saying "mama."  She also correctly identified and named an "eye."  She's getting very into faces.